Y
ou can count on your fi ngers and
toes the number of DACs currently
available worldwide that feature
USB inputs capable of handling
‘ultra HD’ data beyond 24-bit/192kHz
together with the playback of DSD audio
fi les using the recently ratifi ed DoP
protocol. The svelte-looking Auralic Vega
ticks all the boxes for audiophiles who want
to explore the highest resolution audio that
today’s digital technology can offer.
Although founded fi ve years ago, Auralic
will be a new name to many readers. Only
recently have the company’s products
become available in the UK. Headed up
by electronics and recording engineer
Xuanqian Wang and his business partner
Yuan Wang, Auralic has its headquarters
and manufacturing base in Beijing.
A DIGITAL PROCESSOR
In addition to the fully-featured Vega the
company’s product portfolio includes the
Taurus PRE line stage preamp (£1790)
and partnering Merak 400W monoblock
power amps (£2090 each), Taurus MkII
headphone amp (£1490) and two new
headphone ‘docks’ – Gemini 1000 and
2000 (UK prices to be announced) – that
will surely be on headphone enthusiasts’
wish-lists this year. Auralic has licensed
from Klutz Design the form factor of the
Swedish design fi rm’s stylish CanCan
headphone stand and integrated into the
stand’s base a USB DAC (based on the
Vega) and a headphone amplifi er, together
with an SD Extended Capacity card reader
that allows it to store up to 2TB of data on
board. Talk about cool!
Auralic calls its Vega a ‘digital processor’.
You might call it a digital preamplifi er, since
it’s a DAC with a (digital) volume control
and a Class A preamplifi er built in – not
merely a high-current DAC output – so you
can certainly connect it directly to a power
amp or active loudspeakers if you live in
an all-digital home. There are no analogue
inputs. Neither are there any fi xed-level
line outputs, so to use it simply as a DAC,
as I did, you’ll connect its balanced (XLR)
or single-ended (RCA) outputs to your
amplifi er and leave the volume control set
to maximum output.
At the rear are fi ve digital inputs. The
AES/EBU (XLR) and three S/PDIF inputs (two
electrical via RCA, one optical via Toslink)
will handle LPCM up to 24-bit/192kHz,
while its asynchronous USB input will
accept incoming data all the way up to
32-bit/384kHz. Moreover, as well as being
compatible with 1-bit/2.8224MHz DSD
(DSD64) the USB input will also handle
double-rate DSD with a 5.6448MHz
sampling frequency (DSD128). Such a
spec. represents the current state of the
art in consumer audio gear, providing the
ability to play all currently available hi-res
fi le formats – no matter how rarefi ed –
available from audiophile record labels
such as 2L, Channel Classics, Reference
Recordings, Blue Coast Records, etc.
As with all the company’s components,
the Vega’s chic-looking casework is
made from an alloy of iron, nickel, silicon
and rare-earth metals dubbed AFN402,
coated internally with a damping material
called Alire. Auralic claims this makes for
a chassis that’s excellent at protecting
the internal electronics from vibration
and electromagnetic interference. The
minimalist alloy fascia, devoid of any
controls other than a rotary knob on the
right, is dominated by a large active-matrix
organic LED display that’s really gorgeous
once the unit is powered up.
With yellowy-orange legends against a
black background it’s exceptionally easy
to read from a distance, with a choice
of three brightness levels that can be
determined via the unit’s setup menu.
Pushing in and releasing the volume knob
brings the DAC out of standby, while
pressing it again enters its confi guration
menu where you select inputs and access
the Vega’s deeper settings – of which there
are many. It can be fully operated via the
supplied IR remote handset too.
RIGHT: A linear PSU feeds a proprietary
LPCM/DXD/DSD-compatible ‘Sanctuary Audio
Processor’ with a claimed ‘32-bit/1.5MHz’
upsampling while an equally bespoke ‘Orfeo’
Class A analogue stage drives the output
Auralic Vega
(28 pages)
(21 pages)
Manymanuals.com
Manymanuals.de
Manymanuals.fr
Manymanuals.it
Manymanuals.pl
Manymanuals.cz
Manymanuals.es
Manymanuals-pt.com
Comments to this Manuals